Left Behind
by Domenic
Summary: A glimpse at what led to Shifu finding Tai Lung at the doorstop of the Jade Palace. canon-compliant AU


Summary: A glimpse at what led to Shifu finding Tai Lung at the doorstop of the Jade Palace. [canon-compliant AU]

Disclaimer: I don't own "Kung Fu Panda" or anything related to it.

Notes: This and any further KFP fic from me is pretty much dedicated to nievelion's "A Different Lesson," who, besides the source material, got me inspired to try doing fanfic for this awesome film.

A brown wolf sniffed, then stiffened; the scent was what they were looking for, but it was…it was mixed with something metallic, something coppery...

He guided his comrades into the cave. They found the adult snow leopard, dead in a pool of her own blood. Upon expecting the corpse, poking her now flat stomach, they realized she had not survived childbirth.

"One less target to worry about," said their superior, a grizzly bear, as he lumbered into the cave. He stared down at the woman, "Two, if we're lucky." And his dark eyes gave his subordinates a pointed look. Some of them balked, others looked away, others' eyes began to twitch violently.

A white canine glanced at the corpse, "I can smell a new scent besides the mother and daughter, but I can't tell if it's alive or dead-"

The grizzly cut him off with a wave of his massive claw, "All right, starting passing the word along to the rest: the mother is taken care of, but her daughter is still unaccounted for, and may or may not harbor a newborn leopard. Our destination remains the Valley of the Peace, that's still their most likely escape."

###

The leopard cub still kept her violet hood on even as the familiar snow and cold vanished, to be replaced with all sorts of green and a warmth that made her feel uncomfortable in her own fur, and the thick matching violet dress and trousers she wore. The bundle on her back cried, and Shan

growled, rolling her eyes. She then stopped near a stream, removed the infant from her back and held him in one arm, her other fetching food from her satchel. The girl hoped her brother was just hungry. Thankfully he was, and he ate the hardened bread she managed to soften into mush with water, his tail happily wagging all the while.

Shan then bundled him on her back again, and refilled the water skin in the stream. She tried to wash off the dried blood from her violet dress (_so much blood, her mother had bled so much blood, the baby screaming and covered in it, his fur slick and wet with it_). But it was no good, the stains were too tough, and she had no time, no time at all-not even to name her brother. Their parents would never get to decide his name, they would never get to see him...

Soon they were off again, until they were walking through the valley's village in the dead of the night. Her own golden eyes roved around the houses, looking for anything that looked particularly strong-but still the Jade Palace loomed above, like a beacon in the gloom, like the only safe haven. Shan needed some place absolutely safe first, and her Mother had mentioned how it housed Kung Fu warriors, protectors of those who needed help, and surely that would be a place of utmost security for her brother.

The young girl climbed, revived only by a rush of adrenaline over what she was sure she must do.

Her brother seemed all right as she struggled up those stairs, squirming around reassuringly, and babbling in the way she had seen some of the neighbors' own babies do back home. Still, when Shan removed him from her back, she looked him over, slipping him out from the bundle for a breath of fresh air to wash over his incredibly fuzzy body. Had she ever been such a fuzz ball at his age?

His tail swung around happily, and his stubby paws reached out for her, his bright and wide eyes like freshly washed plates. Sakura's lip trembled, then she pulled her brother close and ran a paw over his back, behind his ears, petted his head. She rubbed her nose against his, smiling when it tickled him, at his silly laugh, babies had such a silly laugh. Then she bundled him back up, carrying him in her arms, it wasn't necessary to backpack him everywhere now.

Shan looked up at the large palace door, then back down to her brother. Then she laid him down, knocked madly on the door, then scampered into the bushes and waited.

She didn't have to wait long; out came a-raccoon? No, a red panda, and he stared in shock at her brother. He picked him up wonderingly, took a few steps forward and shot a fierce searching look around, his ears pricked high up-but then he went back inside, with her brother in his arms, probably planning to settle the cub in before looking for whoever left him.

But Shan immediately took her leave as the door closed with a final click.

She could still go back, explain what she could to the red panda, thank him, and beg him to let her and her brother stay for a while until she figured out their next course of action, rely on their protection…but, what if it wasn't enough?

The child was fearful, second-guessing, desperate. She had to be absolutely sure her brother would be safe…and only one, inescapable plan came to mind.

###

The snow leopard cub found them on the outskirts, past the houses of the village.

She stumbled and fell as her pursuers circled her, growling and holding their weapons; she looked at them with wide eyes, her heart pounding. Shan shuddered and wondered if she could do this, if her plan was smart, if it was right, if it was the best thing to do, and she kept coming around to believing it was her only option...

A brown wolf walked toward her, and she instinctively shuffled back, but his claw whipped out and brought her forward. He squeezed his eyes shut as she yelped over the grip biting into her arm, took a breath through his long snout, then opened his eyes back up and questioned, "Did the cub survive?"

This would be easy to act, because her eyes really were welling up with tears and her whole face was truly fallen and downcast and pained.

"No." (And her whimper was true.)

_Now Shan felt there was still a fifty-fifty chance that they would capture her or-_

The brown wolf withdrew his dagger and one of his comrades, a mountain goat, was readying blankets and a large basket with hooks attached, for arms to loop through and carry on one's back.

_-or it was the latter._

The cub closed her eyes, hoped it would be quick, hoped it wouldn't hurt, hoped they wouldn't investigate any further.

(They didn't.)

###

The wolf carried the small body over to the goat while the rest of his comrades checked and cleaned the scene of any evidence, but he had been determined to be careful, fatally slashing and quickly picking her up in the same movement before barely any drops of blood could fall and stain the grass. The mountain goat wrapped the body in the blankets, put it in the basket, and carried it on his back as their whole group left the Valley to rejoin their comrades and show their superior as quickly as possible the deed was done, the family wiped out, as per their employer's wishes.

###

_He was real happy that he could move around freely now, though the big-eared creature with the long funny whiskers never let him leave the real soft blanket to see all the green beyond it, even though he was busy looking for someone. He hadn't seen the creature with the gold eyes surrounded by spots in a while, even though the big-eared one did the same things she did, feeding and carrying him-but he wanted to know where she was._

Shifu winced as the feline cub abruptly stopped in its crawling and began to bawl loudly. Oogway looked sadly on as his student picked up the infant and patted his back awkwardly, but that seemed to be enough. The leopard sniffled, then began to smile when he batted at Shifu's ears, then to laugh when he pulled on them even as the red panda silently gritted his teeth.

Chuckling, Oogway asked, "Have you thought of a name?"

"We haven't found his family yet," Shifu stubbornly said, even as his eye twitched and he couldn't look at his master.

Oogway nodded smoothly. "Of course." His eyes remained on the two, as Shifu resettled the cub in his lap, away from his ears. The leopard was determined though, stretching and pawing and giggling even as Shifu reared back, but kept his arms firmly around him.

The old turtle smiled softly.

###

_After he did what the Big Ears did a lot but with the soft bouncy bear, Big Ears said "Tai Lung" only when around him, and he kept doing it so much he began to listen to it, turn around at it and look up expectantly. It was at this time he started to connect "Shifu" with Big Ears, and "Oogway" with the long-necked creature that had the large round back, and had stopped looking for the spotted one with the gold eyes and soon he forgot he was even looking for someone at all._

**Notes: Experimenting with infant Tai Lung's POV was interesting. I'd like to expand on this fic in different ways sometime. Thanks for reading, hoped you like it, all comments and critique are super appreciated.**


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